Aboriginal Peoples Engagement

Meeting the needs and expectations of communities – We believe that it’s reasonable, fair and appropriate for aboriginal peoples and communities to share in the benefits of resource development on and near traditional lands. In many aboriginal communities near our operations, there is a large need for employment and training, infrastructure and support for a variety of programming due to limited economic opportunity outside our industry. However, the gap between what Cameco can provide in terms of socioeconomic benefits and what communities need and expect continues to grow. This provides a unique challenge for Cameco as we must find new and innovative ways to meet the needs and expectations of communities.

Access to lands – We rely on the participation and support of aboriginal communities for access to the land and mineral resources that are essential to our business in this region. In some cases, communities hold tenure rights to lands under aboriginal title or land claim agreements.

Duty to consult requirements – In 2004, court decisions identified the Crown’s duty to consult leading to new provincial and federal frameworks for assessing the impacts of resource development activities on aboriginal and treaty rights. Canadian federal and provincial governments have a constitutional obligation to consult First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples before they make decisions about projects or activities (including our projects and activities) that may affect the ability of these groups to exercise treaty or aboriginal rights, and if necessary to require that a project or activity proceed differently.

Achieving prescribed targets under mineral surface leases – The recommendations of a 1997 Joint Federal-Provincial Panel on Uranium Mining Developments in Northern Saskatchewan led to changes to mineral surface leases requiring companies to meet prescribed targets for northern hiring and procurement. The 67% northern employment target has been especially difficult to achieve as Cameco’s mines and mills are mature operations with high retention rates in a region where employment opportunities are few. While we have been successful in filling entry-level positions with northerners, our challenge now is to advance northerners into technical and supervisory roles in order to increase our overall totals.

Five-pillar corporate responsibility strategy – this strategy is the foundation for building and sustaining relationships everywhere we operate, but particularly with aboriginal communities near our operations. Developed in northern Saskatchewan, we have also exported this strategy to other areas where we operate, including Australia. Our goal is to develop and maintain long-term relationships, and provide communities with employment and business development opportunities and capacity building. The five pillars are:

1. Workforce development – The goal of our workforce development program is to ensure students stay in school, have the means to attend post-secondary programs, and receive the training they need to advance if we hire them. We have developed a large suite of programs in northern Saskatchewan to help community members obtain employment in our industry and help us to meet our surface lease commitments.

2. Business development – We use our best efforts to procure the majority of our services for our operations from local businesses. Since 2004, we’ve procured over $2.6 billion (or 73% of our total) in services alone from northern Saskatchewan businesses, but have also seen impressive results in other jurisdictions like Ontario and Kazakhstan. In northern Saskatchewan, we have developed initiatives like our northern preferred supplier program and direct source strategy to help support local businesses.

3. Community engagement – We meet regularly with priority communities to keep them informed about our projects and licensing plans and to involve them in our projects and operations in other appropriate ways. Programs that support our community engagement goals include our Cameco Northern Tour, local community websites, community forums, project-specific engagement programs and mine tours.

4. Community investment – We support communities by providing funds for infrastructure and programming in every region where we operate. In northern Saskatchewan, our focus is on improving the lives of northern youth through education, sports, recreation and health promotion. Since 2004, we have donated nearly $14 million to northern and aboriginal groups.

5. Environmental stewardship – We actively encourage local communities to participate in the environmental assessment process and ongoing environmental monitoring activities. In northern Saskatchewan, programs that support our environmental stewardship goals include the Athabasca Working Group, Northern Saskatchewan Environmental Quality Committee and project-specific engagement programs. We also meet with individuals, including local trappers, and communities to assess the importance of traditional activities in relation to mining activities.

Community based agreements – In order to solidify our relationships with aboriginal communities, we have entered into a number of agreements designed to codify the socioeconomic benefits communities receive from us, as well as our responsibilities to those communities. These agreements include:

1. Collaboration Agreements with English River First Nation and the Metis community of Pinehouse – Signed in 2012 and 2013, these agreements with two northern Saskatchewan communities establish a framework and guiding principles for long-term working relationships with the communities. The agreements include how we’ll invest in, support and engage with the community, including specific promises around community investment, business and workforce development. The agreements also outline how we’ll operate, balancing commercial demands with traditional needs, land use rights and environmental stewardship. Finally, the agreements outline how the community will support our operations as long as Cameco meets its obligations to consult and engage with the community as defined in the agreement. We expect more agreements like these to be signed with other northern Saskatchewan communities in the coming years. For full details on the Pinehouse agreement, please visit this website.

2. Impact Management Agreement with the Dene communities of the Athabasca Basin – Cameco signed an Impact Management Agreement with the communities of the Athabasca Basin in 1999, including the Black Lake and Fond du Lac Denesuline First Nations and four local northern municipalities (Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation has also participated in programming implementation, but was not a signatory). This agreement provides the communities with workforce development and dedicated engagement programs, community investment funding, and mechanisms to collaborate around environmental stewardship (i.e. the creation of the Athabasca Working Group monitoring program).

3. Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Martu of Western Australia – Signed in 2012 with the traditional Kintyre landowners, the Martu, this agreement provides training, employment and business opportunities to the local communities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. When Kintyre is eventually constructed and operational, we will be in the position to employ the many Martu we have trained. In the meantime, we continue to help them build capacity for the future.

4. Trappers Compensation Agreements in Northern Saskatchewan – These agreements are between Cameco and several trappers in northern Saskatchewan who continue to trap on or near our operating sites. These agreements encourage trappers to continue trapping, and provide them with a yearly cash distribution and, for some, an allotment of fuel.

5. Memorandum of Understanding with the Mississauga First Nation – A signed memorandum of understanding with the Mississauga First Nation (MFN) related to Cameco’s Blind River refinery in Ontario. This agreement commits MFN and Blind River to working together cooperatively for their mutual benefit. It focuses primarily on socio-economic development projects related to youth, education, health and wellness, and community development.